Devin Cooley feels 'nothing' in the surprise Flames win!

The Game Itself

On a night in which the Flames upset the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, it seems odd that the focus is on what the goaltender said.

After a slow first period in which the Flames only managed eight shots to Carolina’s fourteen, it turned after that. The Flames outshot the Canes in both the second and third periods.

The Flames did fall behind at 6:09 in the second period via Kotkaniemi. Matvei Gridin’s first goal of the season on 18:30 in the second, before Morgan Frost gave the Flames the lead with twenty-one seconds of the second left. That was not enough to see a lead going into the third, however, as Chatfield levelled the game with four seconds left before the second intermission.

Yegor Sharangovich rounded out the game with his second goal of the season, bringing him to four points on the year.

The win was enough to lift the Flames of the bottom of the NHL. That place is now occupied by the Kings, who remain winless.

Cooley vs Wolf… again

The question keeps getting asked: just how long can Devin Cooley continue to outshine Dustin Wolf before some difficult conversations have to be had?

Wolf has regularly been labelled one of the Calgary Flames’ untouchables when it comes to trade discussions, but are his numbers really deserving of that status?

Last season, Wolf played almost twice as many games as Cooley, yet, aside from shutouts, he failed to outperform his teammate in any of their comparable statistics. Cooley posted the better save percentage and goals-against average, and even recorded an assist.

But the numbers become even more interesting when you look at the shots faced.

Across 57 games, Wolf faced 1,558 shots and made 1,401 saves. Cooley faced 847 shots in 31 games. Extrapolating Cooley’s numbers to the same number of games as Wolf, he would have faced just one fewer shot than Wolf, yet would have made 14 more saves.

This season has started in much the same fashion. Granted, Cooley’s .868 SV% is hardly spectacular, but it still compares favourably with Wolf’s .834. And unless Wolf can turn things around, his save percentage will have declined for a third consecutive season.

Both goaltenders have the same defence in front of them, so the question remains: why are Cooley’s numbers better, and how long can that trend continue before the Flames have to reconsider Wolf’s supposedly untouchable status?

If Cooley was Wolf’s age, would he actually be the first-choice goaltender?